


you do it for him

by reptilianunderwear



Series: miracles aren't free [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Angst, Kageyama Tobio-centric, M/M, Magical Boy AU, hahaahaa kill me ple ase, it's ooc at the beginning on purpose ok, mainly focuses on paralleling between the homura/madoka timeloop arc with kageyama/hinata, the yamatsukki is there if u squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 11:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4826996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reptilianunderwear/pseuds/reptilianunderwear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>and you would do it again.</p><p>(and again and again and again)</p>
            </blockquote>





	you do it for him

**Author's Note:**

> i should be working on my multichap fic but i wrote this instead rip me
> 
> un-beta'd because both my betas haven't seen pmmm and didn't want spoilers. pls point out any and all mistakes i made!!!
> 
> +++ = scene change  
> line break = timeline reset

            The first time Tobio sees Hinata Shouyou, he’s blinded with a flash of pearly whites, fluorescent lights from overhead bathing the small boy in an unnatural glow that makes him look all the more ethereal. Tobio’s weak heart beats up into his throat when Hinata speaks, his voice made of sunlight and honey.

            “You’re the new transfer student who has to take medication today, right?”

            A nod is all that Tobio can manage.

            “Great! I’m Hinata Shouyou, the nurse’s aide, so I’ll take you,”

            Tobio is wonderfully grateful to whatever holy force arranged for Hinata Shoyou to be the nurse’s aide, but is also mentally damning said force for arranging for _Hinata Shouyou_ to be the nurse’s aide. He gives off such warm, bright energy in waves, each hitting Tobio in the form of nigh-incomprehensible noises and mile-a-minute run-ons. Between the fire spewing from Hinata’s mouth and the embers glowing in his eyes, Tobio is sure that he won’t make it to the nurse’s office without being singed.

            Hinata’s conversation is one-sided; he talks about everything. The classes, the teachers, the students, the volleyball team, someone called Suga-san, how _cool_ it is that Tobio got to miss school for a whole, what was it, _six months?!_ Tobio barely mumbles out a _not really_ before they’re at the nurse’s office. Hinata beams up at him, and turns on his heel to dash back to class. Tobio watches, wondering how the hallway tiles aren’t burnt with blackened foot prints from Hinata’s wake.

+++

            Tobio keeps replaying the events of the day over in his head as he walks home. Introductions in the morning, where he stuttered through his name in front of a class of strangers. Then medication, where he could see younger students staring at him as he downed his pills. Lunch, where he got odd looks for the single carton of milk he bought. Gym, where he had a note to excuse himself so he didn’t overwork his heart. All throughout his first day back to a normal school, he could feel people just _watching_ him, like he’s some specimen under a microscope. It makes him feel sick to his stomach. What could they be thinking?

            _Weird_ , a whisper, like the tingling of rusty bells, blows around Tobio. It feels cold against his skin, but he doesn’t shiver or jump. He just accepts it, like it’s something that’s meant to happen. _They all think you’re weird, and stupid. Some kid who’s on meds. You can’t even participate in gym class! What a waste._

            Tobio knows the voice is right. He fixes his eyes on the ground in front of him, pulling his arms tight around his body.

            _Maybe things would be better if you just died._

A tiny part of Tobio’s subconscious tells him that no, that _won’t_ be better, but it’s outweighed by the larger part of his brain that tells him it definitely will.

            _It won’t be hard. You’re already on a bridge. You can just step over the edge. No more stares or whispers behind your back. You can end it! Just die now, and it’ll all be over._

The voice makes a good point. If he just stepped off of the bridge, he’d fall into traffic. A truck would hit him and he would be gone. All he has to do is fall…

            Except, there’s no bridge, and no edge. Nowhere to fall from. Gilded, glittery trees of gold and silver rise up around him from a swirling, pastel blue fog below him. There is no sky, only an endless black stretching on as far as he can see. Tobio stops in his tracks, panic filling him up and threatening to choke him. Looking around, all he can see is the forest of trees ringing him, the fog clinging hungrily to his pant legs.

            “Hello?” He calls out, uncertainly, before mentally kicking himself. That’s how people die in horror movies, idiot! But since he’s already gone and done it, he may as well carry it full term. “What’s going on?”

            The ground splits behind him, rumbling like an earthquake and sending Tobio to his knees. Scrambling backwards, he looks up at what the ground spits up: a throne the size of an apartment, all ivory and porcelain and gemstones, the clawed legs straddling the fissure. Robbed of his breath, Tobio stands shakily to run, but as soon as his back is turned, a sound like thunder booms behind him. The shock from it sends him sprawling on his face again, the thick mist clogging his lungs. He can’t breathe, he can’t see, he can’t move—oh god, this is how he’ll die, on some weird acid trip or in some crazy nightmare realm. He hadn’t meant it, he wasn’t really going to jump off of the bridge before, _oh god_ —

            Something whizzes over his head, grazing his hair, and there’s an unearthly scream from the throne. Tobio ducks into the fetal position, shielding himself, hoping against hope that he would _wake up_ soon. There are a few sounds of impact, grunts and shouts, and then, there is quiet. Peeking out from between his elbows, Tobio sees the silhouette of two figures, backs to him, looking on at the rubble of the ivory throne.

            “Whew!” says the figure on the right. Tobio furrows his brow, because he knows he’s heard that voice before… “That was a close one, Suga-san!”

            It only clicks in Tobio’s head once Hinata Shouyou turns to face him, lit from behind with the glow of the trees, hair aflame around his head and grin splitting his entire face. He’s donned a form fitting black vest, with a pumpkin colored, quarter-length button down underneath, shorts that go down to his knees, and a pair of boots that only reach his ankle. In his hand is a bow as tall as Hinata is, decorated with carved black feathers and bright orange blossoms. Tobio is so breathtaken he almost forgets that he almost died. He’s so breathtaken, in fact, that he _does_ forget to look at the other figure, who’s smiling down at him gently.

            “Don’t worry, Kageyama,” Hinata tells him cheerily. “You’re safe now,”

+++

            An hour later, Tobio is in the apartment of Sugawara Koushi (the other figure, the Suga-san Hinata kept going on about that morning), sipping tea and picking at a slice of cake that looks too pretty to eat. Hinata sits across from him at the table, Sugawara next to him. The cat (was it a cat? It doesn’t look like any cat Tobio’s ever seen) that had showed up when the boys saved Tobio, perches on the edge of the table, swinging his black tail back and forth. It’s very unnerving, how he never blinks or anything. Sugawara had called him ‘Kuroo’.

            “Do you do this… all the time?” Tobio asks, looking up from his still-steaming teacup. Hinata nods vigorously and sets his cup own down rather roughly, a few drops of tea splashing onto Sugawara’s table. “Yeah! Well, Suga-san’s been at it longer than me. I’ve only been a magical boy for a few weeks,”

            “But you’re improving greatly, Hinata. You’ll be as good as me in no time,” Sugawara says over the lip of his cup, warm eyes never leaving Tobio, even when he addresses Hinata.

 Hinata blushes at the praise, stammering out his thanks and stuffing cake in his face to avoid responding any more. They seem so at ease, as if they hadn’t just been attacked by some nightmare monster. Tobio can’t take it anymore. “Don’t you get scared? That was terrifying! How can you face those… those…”

            “Witches,” Sugawara offers, helpfully.

            “Those _witches_ without being paralyzed with fear?” Tobio finishes, brows knit together in confusion. The room falls silent, and the two magical boys exchange glances before bursting out laughing. Tobio goes red in the face and trips over an apology, before Hinata waves it off.

            “Of course we get scared, Kageyama,” Sugawara says, calming himself enough to answer. “But we have to remember that the more witches we kill, the more people we can save—like you, for instance. That weighs out the fear,”

            Hinata nods his approval, butting in once he’s sure Sugawara is done. “And, we get to use super cool weapons that go _gwaah_ and _pyoowhh_ , so that makes it worth it too!”

            Sugawara smacks Hinata lightly on the back of the head, and Tobio’s eyes shine at the thought of saving people. And, to a lesser extent, weapons that go _gwaah_.

+++

            Tobio has not made a contract yet, even after weeks of observing Sugawara and Hinata battling witches. He couldn’t decide on something he wanted bad enough. A fixed heart? To be cool? For Hinata to look at him the way people on romantic movies look at each other? He couldn’t decide. God, did he wish he had by now.

            “Kageyama, I have to go now,” Hinata says to him, in the same cautious tone he used when he had saved Tobio all those weeks ago. Tobio can’t look up from where Sugawara lays on the ground. He’s back in his school uniform, his silver and white magical boy outfit stripped away from him. His eyes are closed, and his head lolls to the side. Tobio can’t believe that Hinata wants to leave, right now, while Sugawara is _dead_. He can’t battle Walpurgisnacht on his own. And Tobio isn’t a magical boy, so he can’t help.

            “Sugawara-san is dead!” he shouts, looking up at Hinata, cheeks wet with hot tears and hands balled into fists. Hinata just smiles softly, a determined fire glowing behind his eyes.

            “That’s why I have to go,” he says. Tobio doesn’t want him to go. He can’t do it alone. He can’t do it alone!

            “No! Let’s just run, we can leave, and Walpurgisnacht won’t be our problem anymore!” Tobio explodes, still on his knees by Sugawara’s body. Hinata shakes his head, his face creasing into a frown.

            “I can’t do that, Kageyama,” he tells Tobio, suddenly somber. “Please take care,” Tobio opens his mouth to say something, to protest one last time, but Hinata has already leapt away, towards the swirling mass of Walpurgisnacht, bow in hand, arrow knocked. Tobio wants to call after him, tell him not to be stupid, beg him not to go, but it’s too late. He’s alone with a dead friend and a wrecked city. 

_+++_

Tobio finds him face-up in a pool of water in a flourishing labyrinth. Hinata’s magical boy uniform is gone, his beautiful bow snapped in half and laying a few feet away. His hair is matted down with sticky red blood, the color draining into the water around him. Tobio wants to throw up, he wants to run, he wants to scream. Instead, he falls to his knees with a splash, hands hovering over Hinata, scared to touch him and feel the cold wisps of death.

            “Hinata, you dumbass…” he mumbles instead, voice choked with unshed tears. “You knew you would die going in, you _knew_ , you idiot… You should have lived, instead of save someone like me,”

            Hinata doesn’t respond, unsurprisingly.

            “Do you mean it, Kageyama Tobio?” a voice asks from behind him. Tobio tears his gaze from Hinata’s body, and meets eyes with Kuroo. He has on the same expression he had on every time Tobio saw him before. “Would you stake your soul on it?”

            “Of course!” Tobio blurts out, without thinking. Kuroo doesn’t blink or respond in any way besides a miniscule head tilt.

            “Then I can help you,”

 

* * *

 

            Tobio wakes up in a hospital bed, covered in papery thin sheets that shift at the slightest breeze. The window is open, and he has the strongest case of déjà vu he’s ever experienced.

            But then, everything hits him like a tidal wave upon the sand. Hinata, Sugawara, Kuroo, Walpurgisnacht, _the contract—_

            Tobio sits bolt upright, the sheets falling from his body. A quick glance to the calendar shows the date, the 16th… the day he returned to school, nearly a month ago. Looking around, still bleary-eyed from a sleep he can’t remember, something catches his eye. On the side table, right next to his bed, sits a gilded, egg-shaped jewel. Sucking in a breath, Tobio takes it in his hand, gently, reverently. It’s cool to the touch, and swirls a dark, hypnotizing blue.

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Tobio eases himself into a standing position. He’s unsteady on his feet as he stumbles over to the mirror, taking in his sickly complexion and dull eyes. Never before has he been this excited to look this terrible. A rush of excitement trills through his veins. Hinata is alive! Sugawara, too! Tobio can save them! It’s like someone injected an espresso into his bloodstream. He runs the entire way to school, and his heart doesn’t even complain, even as he pushes his way up the multitude of stairs to his classroom.

Hinata does not look as excited as Tobio is when he rushes up to him, clasping his classmate’s hands in his own and gushing out about how he’s become a magical boy too, and how they’re going to do their best together. He looks a little embarrassed, to be honest. Tobio doesn’t mind, because now, he can keep Hinata safe.

+++

            Tobio’s magical boy uniform isn’t as elegant as Sugawara’s, lacking the subtle accents of his senior’s outfit. It’s not as flashy as Hinata’s, with its clashing colors and distracting patterns. It is, however, functional. Full length, steel-colored pants striped through with dark blue; a matching blue jacket with cuffs at the elbows; a set of tight, mid-shin boots with thick soles. It’s practical, he thinks, allowing for a lot of mobility as he beats away at the oil drum dummy Sugawara had set up.

            Hinata claps eagerly when time restarts itself, and Sugawara nods with a tight smile, eyebrows furrowed in thought. “It’s tricky,” he offers, in a measured voice. “But if you can learn to fight with it…”

            That night, Tobio clears his internet history, to avoid accusation of terrorism. After all, it’s pretty suspicious for teenage boys to Google ‘How to Make a Bomb’.

+++

            The labyrinth collapses and Hinata’s arms are flung around his neck, laughing and praising his finishing blow. Tobio numbly allows himself to be embraced by the sun, still a bit in shock from tossing a bomb into a sunset-colored storm cloud and dodging yellow veins of lightning, leaping over the erratic ever-shifting terrain and stopping time. Sugawara watches on with a proud, almost parental expression as a small smile crosses Tobio’s face.

+++

            _It just keeps happening!_

Hinata’s in the same pool, except this time, he’s not corpse-still. He’s writhing, screaming, splashing around, his soul gem clutched in his white-knuckled hand. Tobio kneels over him, frustrated and terrified. _This wasn’t supposed to happen!_

            “Hold on, Hinata—” Tobio sputters, searching everywhere he can for a grief seed. He doesn’t find one, at least not before Hinata stills, back arched painfully, hand thrust towards the smoky sky. His soul gem is no longer fiery and bright, but clouded with swirls the color of pitch. Tobio can only watch in horror as Hinata goes limp in the water, and the soul gem bursts in a cloud of vapor. It takes shape, growing smoky wings and airy feathers, and it almost looks like…

            A witch. It’s a witch, born from Hinata’s soul gem. Tobio stares in confusion and fear as the witch forms high above them. Fumbling, he turns the hourglass on his shield, and goes back. He’ll do it right this time. _He’ll do it right._

 

* * *

 

            “Kuroo is tricking all of you!” Tobio nearly shouts. Hinata glances between him and Yamaguchi, standing nervously to the side. He’s trying not to look scared, but the tense set of his shoulder and the wringing of his hands give him away.

            “What could Kuroo have to gain by telling us such a huge lie?” Hinata asks, defensive. Kageyama flinches—he’s seen that acid tongue lash out before, but never to him. It stings, he realizes.

            “I don’t—” Tobio tries.

            “You’re probably just trying to get us to turn on each other!” Hinata cuts him off with the wave of his hands. “You and Tsukishima are probably in cahoots, too! Trying to get us all to fight each other instead of witches—”

            “That’s not it!” Tobio blurts, loud and angry. It surprises him. He can’t remember in all his time knowing Hinata (three months? Four? He can’t remember, not with all these jumbled timelines), he’s never been angry with him. But now, he’s furious, hands balled into fists, locking eyes with Hinata. How dare he?! After all he’s done, to try and protect him?!

Sugawara steps between them, holding his hands out sternly. “Hinata, you’re being a hypocrite. Don’t preach about Kageyama splitting people apart when you’re driving him away too,”     

Hinata opens his mouth to say something, but Sugawara’s expression warns against it. Tobio glowers at his shoes, as if by boring holes into them with his eyes, he can make Hinata understand. But Hinata will never understand. He won’t ever know what Tobio is doing for him.

+++

            Tsukishima is a silent fighter, usually. But now, he’s shouting and screaming, swinging his weighted chain around like a madman. He’s lost his cool, and frankly, it’s pretty terrifying to the other magical boys.

            “What have you done to Yamaguchi?!” Tsukishima demands at the Starry Night-esque witch, sending his chain flying. His glasses sit askew on his face, and he’s breathing heavily, a trickle of blood matting his sun-bleached hair. An arrow from far behind him whizzes by, sinking into the shifting mass, and a few rapid-succession bullets follow shortly after. None of this deters the witch; Tobio decides it’s time to step in. With shaky hands, he stops his hourglass, and the world freezes.

            “I’m sorry, Yamaguchi,” he whispers, planting each of his bombs on a rigid outcrop of the witch’s body. He can’t watch when time restarts itself, turning away to avoid the explosion and the dissolving labyrinth. Tsukishima has his fist on the warehouse wall, the clang from it reverberating through the cavernous space. Hinata has fallen to his knees, staring down at his hands, face twisted in grief. Sugawara has his face turned towards the sky, eyes closed, mouth pinched together.

            “How could this happen?” Tsukishima grinds out, head down and shielding his face from view of the others. No one responds, even though Tobio has the compelling urge to tell him that he had tried to warn them. He bites his tongue for the sake of sensitivity. There’s a moment of silence, all of them too consumed with bitter realization to move from their stupors. All except Tobio, whose heart only sinks because he hadn’t convinced them well enough.

+++

            It happens again, but this time, Hinata isn’t alone. Sugawara and Tsukishima are gone, leaving only Tobio and Hinata laying face-up in that wretched pool. Their arms crossed at the wrist, they each hold their clouded soul gem bare to the sky. Whether it’s an act of acceptance or defeat, neither of them know.

            “This is the end, huh?” Hinata murmurs, weakly. There’s no sunshine left in his eyes, only hot tears. Tobio hasn’t any energy left to wipe them away, as he so desperately wants to.

            “No more grief seeds,” Tobio says. It’s not a question or a plea, but just a grim fact. Hinata tries to smile, but its lackluster, so he turns to the face the sky instead. Tobio follows suit, not able to tell if its tears rolling down his cheeks or rain.

            “No more grief seeds,” Hinata confirms. There’s a small stretch of silence before Tobio speaks again.

            “We’re going to be monsters, Hinata,” he whispers, weakly. “We’re going to fuck up this whole world,” There isn’t a response from Hinata. Tobio turns to see his reaction, to see if the witch process has started already. But the sight he sees is even worse. Hinata is smiling softly, and touching a grief seed to Tobio’s soul gem. Tobio opens his mouth to protest, to tell him to save it for himself, the idiot, but all he can manage is to gape as Hinata convulses, his soul gem on the brink of exploding in a tornado of smoke. It’s grimly familiar. Silent for once, he opens his palm to expose his sooty soul gem. Tobio, hands shaking, gets the message and takes Hinata’s soul gem in his own hand. _It’s okay_ , he justifies to himself. _I can just go back and fix this._ Hinata stills and Tobio launches the cloudy gem as far away as possible. He can hear a faint shatter in the distance, and he can swear it’s his heart.  

            Vision blurring, Tobio wrenches his hourglass and goes back, again, the image of Hinata’s apologetic smile still burnt onto his retinas.

 

* * *

 

            No one will believe him about the future. This much Tobio knows. Staring at his sickly face in the mirror, he holds his stormy soul gem up in front of his face. It matches his eyes, as it always has. How many times has he gone back now? Five? Ten? More? He’s lost all sense of linear time. It’s all just a loop at this point—find Hinata, fight witches, prepare for Walpurgisnacht, watch Hinata die, repeat. What did all of those previous timelines have in common? He had told Hinata and Sugawara and Tsukishima and Yamaguchi about the future. And in all of those timelines, Hinata either died or became a witch. Logically, if he just didn’t tell them, then that won’t happen. But even better, if he prevented them from becoming magical boys at all…

            Hinata’s window is on the first level, thank god. Gripping Kuroo’s corpse in one hand and using the other to press against the cool glass. Hinata is at his desk, the lamp casting a warm glow over him and making him look more like a being of sunlight than anything. Tobio’s breath catches in his throat and he catches himself staring, forgetting that he is, in fact, standing outside of the window of someone who, in this timeline, doesn’t know him. In the middle of the night. With a dead cat-thing in his hand. For a second, he thinks of turning and leaving, but Hinata straightens and turns, eyes wide with surprise and… fear?

            Panicking, Tobio blurts out “If someone offers you a miracle in exchange for anything, you can’t accept it!” Hinata doesn’t have time to react before Tobio turns on his heel and runs, sprinting as fast as he can as far away as he can.

            Eventually, he finds himself in the middle of the city, on the edge of the same bridge he had entered his first labyrinth on that night so long ago. Holding Kuroo out over the edge, he glowers at the black-and-red body as it falls down into the speeding traffic below. But getting rid of that damned cat won’t get rid of Walpurgisnacht. He has to do it on his own now—no Hinata, no Sugawara, no Tsukishima or Yamaguchi or Kuroo.

            He’ll have to stock up on bombs.

+++

            Buildings should not fly, yet there is a skyscraper soaring towards Tobio. Nimbly, he dodges it, rolling away from the collision and off the roof he had been perched on. The open air swallows him up. It’s too thick to be natural, and cushions his descend like a thick syrup. He lands on the wrecked sidewalk with a jolt, but not nearly as large as it should be. Labyrinths do have different laws of physics, after all.

            Bolts of yellow energy fly at him from every direction. Tobio can avoid most of them, but many make contact. It burns like fire, searing his skin and clothes and knocking his hand away every time he tries to reset his hourglass. A burst hits him in the gut, knocking the wind straight from his lungs. He flies back a good twenty feet, hitting a floating, skeletal piece of what once was a skyscraper with a heavy, hollow crack. Vision swimming, Tobio turns his head to the side, blinking to sharpen his view. All he sees is a puff of orange against the steely gray of the labyrinth, and his heart drops right out of his chest. There’s a tiny blot of black sitting at Hinata’s feet.

            “Hinata!”  Tobio screams, using every ounce of strength he can muster to call out. “Don’t listen to him! He’s tricking you—!”

            Tobio is cut off when another energy beam smacks him off the beam he had been laying on. He can’t make out what Kuroo is saying to Hinata through the ringing in his ears, but he can see his tail swishing in that smug way he does when he’s making a deal. Falling head first, Tobio watches in horror as Hinata nods. Tobio just keeps falling, down into one of the rifts in the earth created by one of Walpurgisnacht’s earthquakes. The darkness swallows up the explosion of orange that is Hinata’s magical boy transformation.

+++

            “He sure was pretty amazing when he finally transformed, yeah?”

            Tobio wants to drop kick that stupid cat, swishing his tail and looking at the wreckage of the city, the mushroom cloud of smoke billowing up from the center.

            “I knew he would be the most powerful magical boy to date, but to think that he took down Walpurgisnacht with _one shot_? That’s god-like, don’t you agree?” Kuroo asks, staring, unblinking, at the carnage he had caused. Tobio clenches his fists and grits his teeth.

            “You knew what would happen as a result,” Tobio says. It’s not a question.

            “There’s only one end for you magical boys, you know that. The strongest magical boy took down his strongest enemy, the only thing left for him to do was to turn into the strongest of witches. This planet’ll be done for in less than ten days,” Kuroo’s voice is as infuriatingly monotone as ever. Tobio stands, unable to take any more of this. “You aren’t going to fight him?”

            “No,” Tobio says, hand clasping on the hourglass. “I’m going to make sure he doesn’t become it in the first place,”

            “Kageyama Tobio—” Is that a touch of surprise in Kuroo’s voice? “You’re a—”

            Tobio doesn’t hear Kuroo’s answer. The timeline has already begun to reset.

 

* * *

 

            Hadn’t Tobio been told that cats have nine lives? He hadn’t thought it to be _true_ , but when he had to play target practice on at _least_ nine different Kuroos, Tobio begins to doubt. For each one he kills, another one takes its place. Damn Hinata’s big heart, rescuing the wretched creature in the nick of time before Tobio can finish him off. But he’ll keep trying. He’ll stay in this endless maze forever if he has to, if only he can find the one timeline where he doesn’t have to watch Hinata die.

              

**Author's Note:**

> oikawa and noya made cameos as witches lmao 
> 
> reminder: this is completely unbeta'd pls be gentle


End file.
